When Things Change
by Dolphingirl32173
Summary: 'When things change, nothing will ever be the same.' Elena is finding out that saying is all too true, starting during her road trip to Georgia with Damon. Damon/Elena
1. The Change

When Things Change  
DG32173

Sarah: was talking to my beta and came up with _this_ lovely little story. I hope everyone enjoys. Here's the pre-story stuff and then the chapter.

_**DISCLAIMER**_  
If I owned TVD, Delena would have happened a LOT sooner. As it is, I only own what I write as well as what original creations I claim before the chapters they appear in. Everything else is owned by someone else.

_**WARNINGS**_  
ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! Starts during the Georgia episode in Season 1 and alters from there. Rated M for _many_ lovely delights that are quite assuredly restricted to a mature audience. Also beware of much Stefan-bashing and plenty of embarrassing/awkward scenes. Primarily told from Damon's viewpoint but will have scenes told from Elena's viewpoint. You have been warned. If you continue reading, you can't lay the blame on me if you see something you don't like.

_**SUMMARY**_  
'When things change, nothing will ever be the same.' Elena is finding out that saying is all too true, starting during her road trip to Georgia with Damon. _**Damon/Elena**_

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Chapter 1  
The Change

I glance at Elena in surprise. "Seriously?" I ask, returning my gaze to the road. She had just requested that we go to another bar. Admittedly, all the alcohol she had consumed today had to have been chased from her system when Lexi's boyfriend had captured her, used her to lure me out of Bree's Bar, and subsequently beat the shit out of me before dousing me in gasoline. But still.

"Seriously," she replies firmly. "I need something strong to dull down what happened tonight. Otherwise I'll probably have nightmares when I try to get some sleep." I hesitate. "I tend to scream a lot when I have nightmares," she adds.

I decide that if I'm going to get any rest tonight to continue to recover from the injuries that bastard dealt me, I'll have to fulfill her request. Her blood helped heal the broken bones, but I didn't dare drink a drop more than what I needed to heal that much. "Next town we come to, I'll find us a bar," I promise her. I take a quick glance at the juncture where her left shoulder meets her neck, checking for the faintest sign of where I had bitten her. I'm relieved to see that my blood had healed her as if I had never bitten her in the first place. I didn't give her much choice in the matter, reminding her that there were still plenty of people in Mystic Falls who know _exactly_ what a vampire bite looks like and that my bite on her was in a _very_ difficult place to hide.

Not even half an hour later, I fulfill my promise to Elena by pulling into the parking lot of a bar. But it's not just any kind of bar: it's a vampire bar. Top quality drinks are assured here, the kind most humans will never get their hands on. I grab Elena's wrist as she goes to get out as soon as I park. She looks at me in confusion. "You should know that this isn't just an ordinary bar," I tell her.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"It's a vampire bar, and most of the humans who come here have no idea as to the truth. They just think that the _real_ vampires are just acting the part when they feed on the humans. Stay close to me and I'll make sure that no one bothers you," I tell her. "On the other hand, the booze here is of such high quality most humans will never even know such potency exists in alcohol."

Elena hesitates briefly, debating the pros and cons of entering a vampire bar. But, in the end, she nods her accent. "I'll stick close to you," she promises.

I release her wrist and we both climb out of the Camaro. I lock up and lead her inside. As soon as we walk through the door, several heads around the room snap up to lock their gazes on Elena. I wrap an arm around her shoulder and clear my throat softly. Those same heads look at me. I immediately vamp out and snarl a warning at the vampires. They instantly find somewhere else to look.

"What was that about?" Elena asks softly as I guide her to the bar.

"They were vampires and I was letting them know that you are under my protection. It's pretty much an unspoken rule in vampire bars that if a human walks in with a vampire and that vampire signals that the human is under their protection, they are pretty much untouchable by anyone else. Some of the oldest vampires in the world run these bars and make sure that rule is upheld by all vampires, whether they were there when the signal of protection was made or came in afterwards. And any transgressors will face not only the vampire who signaled the protection but also the vampire running the bar in a two-on-one fight. As soon as the transgressor is restrained, the one who signaled the protection can deal whatever retribution they please for the transgression, even going so far as to kill the transgressor. And since the vampires who run the bar are some of the oldest in the world, even a newborn's claim of protection is respected," I explain. We finally reach the bar and I situate her on the stool at the far end of the bar, next to the wall. I take the stool next to her and signal to the barkeep that we would like to order. "Now we wait," I tell her. "The vampires who run these bars compel the human bartenders to serve in order of arrival no matter what. And prior compulsion takes precedence over a newer compulsion."

Elena nods in understanding and doesn't comment. It takes several minutes before the bartender finally makes it to us. "What'll it be?" he asks.

"Bourbon-and-coke for my girl here, seventy percent bourbon, thirty percent coke," I tell him. "And a bourbon Bloody Mary for me." He nods and quickly fixes our drinks. Elena frowns when the bartender adds what she knows damn well is blood to my drink, though it comes from a bottle just like the alcohol bottles on the rack behind the bar, but this one is kept under the bar, out of sight. Finally, he slides our drinks to us and moves on to the next customer. Elena raises an eyebrow at me in question and I know exactly what she's trying to ask. "I didn't drink enough of your blood to heal everything," I tell her softly. "I only drank enough to heal the broken bones. If I had drank enough of your blood to heal all the injuries that guy inflicted, you wouldn't be able to sit straight right now. Besides, I wasn't going to risk draining you completely as the Craving so desperately wanted me to."

She purses her lips before taking a sip of her drink. She gasps at the strength. "Damn, that's strong," she breathes in awe.

I shrug. "I warned you it was potent," I reply, taking a sip of my drink. Bourbon and blood aren't the only ingredients in it. There's also a fine selection of herbs to enhance the flavors of both the blood and the bourbon. I decide to turn my wit and charm to the max on Elena as we drink and I am quickly rewarded by her laughter over my nearly limitless supply of jokes. Unfortunately, even if she _does_ have my blood in her, Elena is only human and the alcohol is pretty damn potent. Not even an hour of drinking and laughter passes before she starts swaying in her seat. I have to grab her arm to keep her from meeting the floor. "Okay, that's enough for you. Time for us to leave," I tell her, helping her stand up. I keep her close to me as I thread my way through the crowd to the cash register. I pass over my debit card to pay for our tab and wave away the receipt. The cashier shrugs and returns my debit card, which I slip back into my wallet. My wallet is then slipped back into an inner pocket of my jacket. Then, carefully supporting Elena the whole way, I guide her out of the vampire bar. I roll my eyes but have to grin as the occasional giggle escapes her lips still. Apparently, Elena is a happy drunk. "Let's get you to a motel," I tell her, carefully tucking her into the passenger seat of my car. I have to buckle her seatbelt for her.

I shut her door and vamp around to climb in the driver's seat. It's only fifteen minutes later that I'm carrying her into our one-bed motel room in a Super 8 across town from the vampire bar. As soon as I close the door to our room, Elena starts pressing kisses against my neck. I freeze, knowing I should make at least a token protest or risk her wrath in the morning. "Damon," she breathes against my skin, her arousal starting to perfume the air.

"Elena, are you _sure_ you want this?" I ask, my jeans already uncomfortably tight around my hips. "Because if we go any further, I'm not going to be able to stop."

She responds by jerking my head around to press her lips hungrily to mine. 'I did warn her,' I tell myself as I give in. I carefully set her on her feet and the very first thing she does is push my jacket off my shoulders. Apparently Drunk Elena goes from happy drunk to sex-beast faster than even _I_ thought possible. I quickly strip out of my jacket as she fumbles with the buttons on my shirt, swearing so coarsely that even the most foul-mouthed military man would blush. I decide that since this is _not_ a John Varvatos shirt, it can be scrapped. I rip my shirt open, sending buttons flying all over the place. I then jerk her shirt over her head and toss it to the side. My mouth goes dry at the black lace-and-silk front-close bra binding her breasts. I immediately fumble the clasps open to release those luscious mounds of feminine flesh. I'm more than a little surprised to see that her breasts are a little fuller than Katherine's had been. She sheds her bra and then her hands, a little steadier now, proceed to unbutton and unzip my fly. I shove my jeans off my hips and down my legs to pool around my ankles. I step out of them and look up to see her eyeing my rock-hard erection hungrily, for all that it's hidden by my boxer-briefs. I kneel before her and flash a smirk up at her before unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans. I push them off her hips and down her deliciously long legs. Once their pooled around her ankles, she steps out of them. I'm greeted with the sight of her panties, which match the bra I had already rid her of. By the scent of her arousal, those panties are already dampened.

In the blink of an eye, I'm standing before her. I raise an eyebrow at her in challenge, tucking my thumbs through my own boxer-briefs. She gets the hint and prepares to fully expose herself for my eyes. As one, we slip out of the last of the clothing covering us. When I look up after stepping out of my boxer-briefs, my eyes latch immediately on Elena's left hip, where a birthmark in the shape of two joined hearts with an arrow through them stands out prominently. Many would mistake it for a tattoo, considering how sharp the outline is, but I can tell it's a true birthmark. That is the biggest physical difference between Elena and Katherine, though there are several less noticeable ones between their bodies.

"So there is a difference," I breathe. She looks at me in confusion. "She doesn't have a birthmark," I inform her. Her mouth forms a silent 'o' in understanding.

Before she can think too much about it, or as much as her drunken mind can, I pull her into my arms and press my lips against hers, grinding my hips against hers as a promise of what's to come. She immediately parts her lips when I run my tongue over them, allowing me to delve my tongue into her mouth to taste and explore as I have wanted to do since I first laid eyes on her the night her parents died.

In a flash, I have her pressed beneath me on the bed, waging a war for dominance over her with our tongues. I can tell that she lets me win without as much of a fight as she could actually put up. I finally have to pull my lips from hers so that she can get some much needed oxygen into her lungs. As she catches her breath, I trail kisses up her jawline, down her throat, and down to the swollen bud on her left breast. I immediately latch my mouth over that beautiful mound of flesh while cupping the other with my hand. I marvel that Elena's breast fits perfectly into my hand where Katherine's had been somewhat smaller.

I resolutely push the thoughts of Katherine out of my mind, determined to keep the rest of this experience purely about Elena. I proceed to alternate between suckling and nipping at the breast in my mouth while teasing and massaging the breast in my hand. I'm rewarded by Elena's gasps and moans of pleasure. Soon, I switch breasts and deal equal treatment to both before kissing my way over her flat stomach. I gently spread her legs far enough apart that I can lay down between them and finish kissing my way to that beautiful nexus of nerves that will excite the most pleasure from her.

She gasps as I latch my mouth over her clit. When I begin sucking and gently nipping at that bud, she begins mewling and gasping her pleasure. Once I finally decide she's ready, I ease one finger into her tight, moist core to begin carefully stretching her so that I don't hurt her as much once I enter her. I alternate between curling and pumping that finger as I tease and pleasure her clit with my mouth. Soon, I add a second finger into her core, this time adding a scissoring action to the pattern. Finally, I add a third, all the while keeping up my mouth's attention to her clit. When I feel her walls tighten around my fingers, I know she's ready. I pull my fingers out and quickly suck them clean, listening with pleasure as she groans in disappointment. I then turn that into a moan of excitement by plunging my tongue into that tight, moist heat. She cries out my name, _my_ name, as the mere sensation of my tongue in her core sends her over the edge. I greedily lap up her sweet, sweet nectar.

When the flow finally stops, I kiss my way back up her beautiful body. I stop at the juncture where her left shoulder meets her neck. I carefully line up my erection with her core and _slowly_ ease into her. I know I'm larger than even three fingers. I also know she's no longer a virgin; Stefan took care of that much. But he has _no_ idea how to properly treat a woman in the bedroom. Not to mention I'm _quite_ sure that I'm bigger than him in more ways than one. Elena's gasp of pain assures me that I'm right on both counts. I whisper gentle encouragements and compliments into her ear as I let her get used to my girth. With the help of the alcohol in her system, she recovers much sooner from the pain than she would have otherwise. I know the precise second when I can start simply by the relaxing of her tensed muscles. I twitch my hips just slightly and am rewarded by a delicious moan. That's all I need to begin. I slowly begin pulling out until just the tip of my head is still within her before plunging back in. With each plunge, I pick up the pace a notch.

"Harder, faster," she begs between gasps and moans.

'As the lady wishes,' I think and proceed to pick up the pace and strength all the way to that only achievable by a vampire. But I make sure that the bed takes most of the strength I'm putting into this. I don't want to shatter her pelvic bone, after all.

As I keep the pace going, I suck and nip at the point where her left shoulder meets her neck, leaving her with what will be a _highly_ noticeable hickey. Or, I _would_ be leaving her with one if it weren't for the fact that she has some of my blood in her system. When we reach our explosive releases simultaneously, I groan her name and she screams mine. I collapse against her, taking care not to let my full weight land on her by keeping some of it braced on my arms.

"That was …," she starts breathlessly.

"We're not through just yet, kitten," I murmur seductively into her ear.

I can sense her shock and chuckle. I then proceed to prove to her that I meant what I said be showing her a variety of sexual positions. In the process, I do something I have never done with another lover: I make sure to mark her in such a way that _every_ vampire who comes across her will _know_ she belongs to _me._ I have completely given up on Katherine after that first round. Not even _she_ had been a match for how amazing being with Elena is.

When I _finally_ let her succumb to her exhaustion and fall asleep, it's nearly three in the morning. I make sure that we end up tangled in such a way that she will have no doubt as to what had happened between us tonight, though I have her sleeping on top of me. I stroke my fingers through her hair as I allow myself to drift off to sleep. I _refuse_ to let her go back to Stefan after this. Not that he will be able to touch her like this again because my scent will forever be mingled with hers now that I have marked her as _mine._ It's a mark that only another vampire will be able to identify because it's not a physical mark. Though, even human males will know instinctively that she is off limits to them from here on.

With these thoughts, I finally succumb to sleep.

**Elena**  
Around ten in the morning

As I slowly wake up, I vaguely wonder why I'm so damn sore. Something flutters at the edge of my awareness, a warning that things have changed drastically at some point last night. As I am drawn further into the waking world, I discover I am tangled in the most intimate of fashions with a thoroughly masculine body. I frown, knowing that it can't be Stefan. After all, I left the boarding house in a rush of fury and pain after discovering that picture of Katherine and finding out he had lied to me about her appearance.

What had happened afterwards slowly comes back to me, in bits and pieces at first, then the details filling in the more I wake up. By the time I'm fully awake, I remember pretty much everything up to the point of Damon taking me to the vampire bar. After the first two drinks, everything had started to become a great big blur.

Suddenly, I stiffen as I recognize the scent of the man beneath me, the man I'm tangled so intimately with: Damon. In that instant, last night returns in a flash. I snap my eyes open to see a pale neck. I slowly tilt my head up to see that Damon's asleep. He has to be; he would _never_ allow such a peaceful expression to cross his features when he's awake. I tilt my head down to see that we are, in fact, tangled together so completely I couldn't possible extricate myself from this predicament without waking him up. Not to mention I can _feel_ that his dick is still buried deep into my core, proof that my memories of last night had really happened.

Such foul language starts falling off my tongue in a hoarse whisper that I'm surprised the air doesn't actually turn blue from it. Certainly, even the most foul-mouthed military man would blush crimson at hearing it. Things couldn't possibly get more awkward than they are right now, right? Wrong!

Damon wakes up then and watches me in amusement up until the door to the motel room we're in swings open to allow Stefan to barge in. All three of us freeze, and I'm not sure if it's embarrassment about being caught like this with Damon by my ex that's heating up my cheeks or rage that Stefan had the nerve to track us down after everything he's done. After all, Damon and I are _on top of_ the covers and Stefan can see with perfect clarity just how tangled up we are.

Finally, Damon breaks the silence by saying quite sarcastically, "Well, this isn't awkward at all."

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Sarah: well, talk about embarrassing. I'd love it if you review and tell me what you think!


	2. The Promise

When Things Change  
DG32173

Sarah: here's the second chapter! I think this fanfic is gonna be pretty fun to write. I hope you enjoy!

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_JMHUW:_ oh, wow! Thank you for the compliment! And, yeah, Stefan-bashing is one of my all-time favorite hobbies. While I won't go into actual _words_ this chapter, you'll get a great deal of general information on how Elena's going to be bashing Stefan this chapter. But after this chapter, don't expect to see much of Stefan for a while to come. When he _does_ come back into the picture, there will be even _more_ Stefan-bashing. I always felt that Elena shouldn't have forgiven Stefan during the Georgia episode. I mean, he _lied_ to her about her resemblance to Katherine _and_ he tried to withhold his knowledge of her adoption. So _not_ cool! Anyways, here's the chapter!

_YAZMIN V:_ I have _no_ idea how Stefan managed to track them down, but it was a major part of the storyline. Stefan's goal in doing so was to 'rescue' Elena from evil Damon's bad influence. And the mark Damon put on Elena will be explained as the story goes along, so I won't bother explaining it now. Glad you're already hooked. Here's more.

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Chapter 2  
The Promise

"Well, this isn't awkward at all," I say sarcastically. I had _not_ planned for Stefan to get it in his head to track us down so he could 'rescue' Elena from my influence. Having him burst into the hotel room to see Elena and I tangled together in such a fashion that a child would know what we had been up to last night is _way_ more than awkward on all fronts.

Elena had been caught between embarrassment at being caught tangled with me like this by her ex and rage at having said ex go so far as to track us down. My words make her rage take over. She snatches the pillow from beneath my head and throws it at Stefan with a shriek of fury that hurts my ears. "Get out!" she yells at him. "Get out! Get out! _Get out!"_

When he dodges the pillow but doesn't obey her demands, she grabs the radio clock from the nightstand next to us and viciously yanks the cords out the back and throws that at him, followed by the lamp, and even the _Bible_ in the drawer of the nightstand. Only the Bible manages to hit its target: my brother's head. The others crash against the wall behind him and are destroyed.

I grow a little worried about how much this damage is going to cost me. In the end, however, I decide to just turn in the room key and say nothing about the collateral damage. I paid for the room in cash and no one will be able to track me down to make me pay for the property damage. Even if they _do_ somehow track me down, I can always use compulsion to make them go away again.

When her attempts to drive my brother back out the door he came in fail, Elena starts spewing a litany of curses and swears at my brother that surprises even _me._ Just where did she get her hands on such in-depth knowledge of the fouler parts of the English language? Stefan's eyes bulge in shock over her absolutely crude vocabulary. I know he had formerly had it in his head that the girl was a pure, sweet innocent. Her extensive knowledge of foul vocabulary is even _more_ surprising to him than it is to me, which is actually saying quite a bit. And _unlike_ me, he's obviously finding this to be a tough pill to swallow, so to speak.

I watch in awed delight as she goes on and _on_ about his faults in such a blunt, foul manner that Stefan takes her words as if they were physical blows. And then, just when I think she's come to an end, I have to choke back a laugh as she astonishingly dictates to him every single one of his faults _in the bedroom_ compared to what I gave her last night. I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming this up. Upon being proven that this is _no_ dream, I chuckle gleefully as Elena's comparison between my expertise in the bedroom and his lack makes Stefan retreat hastily out of the motel room like nothing else she had done had been capable of. It was amazing to watch as surprise warred with disgust over her in-depth description of what we did last night.

When the door shuts behind him, Elena glares at it, almost as if she's daring him to come back in for another round. He doesn't take the dare. Instead, I listen as I hear his car's engine start and then speed out of the motel parking lot with his tires screeching so loudly that even Elena can hear them.

She then grits her teeth in agitation. Apparently, she was by no means done in dishing out her anger with him. Then she buries her face into the crook where my left shoulder meets my neck. While she forces herself to calm down, I replay her entire diatribe against my brother in my head. By the end, I can't keep from chuckling my amusement.

"What's so funny?" she asks against my skin.

I barely manage to suppress the wave of desire that sensation floods me with before it becomes _very_ obvious to her. "You were downright _vicious_ to him," I reply. "I don't think I've _ever_ got to witness the golden boy taken down so many notches in such a short amount of time."

"I wasn't even halfway through when he took off," she grumbles.

"He ran because he didn't want to hear any more about how much more superior a lover I am than he is," I chuckle. "I bet he's going to have nightmares for _weeks_ with how in-depth you were going over last night." I glance at the mess next to the door and sigh. "Now, while I'm more than willing to show you much more along the lines of last night, we _really_ need to get out of this motel and out of town before the staff finds out about the wreckage you made of this room. Whether we head straight back to Mystic Falls or not is up to you, though you _really_ ort to let your aunt know your _true_ whereabouts. As it is, she might very well ground you for this excursion out-of-town without permission."

Elena groans and pulls away from my neck. "You're right," she sighs. "And if I'm going to get grounded, I might as well have fun before we return."

"And last night wasn't fun?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"It was a start," she admits. "I'm hoping for much more before we finally head back."

I let her pry herself out of my grasp and rise with her so that she's straddling my hips and my lips are still well within reach of hers. We both grimace when we realize what has to come next. I brace my hands on her hips and help her rise off my dick, both of us hissing at the loss. "We know that there's at _least_ one vampire in town who is _not_ supposed to be there," I remind her. "The one who caused your crash."

Elena purses her lips in thought before sighing. Rather than replying to that, she changes the topic. "What about you? When you said that Bree was a witch, I knew that the only reason you would have sought her out was because you wanted a way into the tomb to free Katherine," she reminds me. "Did she give you a way before you killed her?"

I frown. "You were _supposed_ to stay in the car," I remind her.

"And I did. I realized as we were making our way to your car that Bree had to be the one to have betrayed you to Lexi's boyfriend. I know you well enough by now to know that you'd repay such betrayal with death," she replies. "I figured it would be messy and gruesome so I decided to stay in the car rather than go watch you deal out your vengeance." She frowns at me. "So, did she give you a way to get into the tomb?"

I nod. "She did. But I changed my mind about opening the damn thing," I reply.

"Why?" she asks, surprised.

I smirk and trail my eyes over her naked body in such an obvious fashion that she immediately blushes. I return my eyes to hers. "I finally figured out that I had been played the fool for nearly a century and a half. Even if Katherine _is_ in there, which I'm starting to doubt considering how crafty she was, I've finally realized she had never planned to make a choice between my brother and me. She had plenty of time to make her choice of which of us she wanted to be with for eternity. That we had _both_ woken up in transition should have been a big sign that she wanted to string us both along for eternity. And I don't like sharing. Only reason I put up with it with Katherine was because she assured me _I_ was the one she wanted and she was just toying with Stefan. So if she _is_ in the tomb, I say let her rot for eternity. And if she _isn't_ … well, she never came to me in all the decades since then to tell me she was okay when she _had_ to have known what I had dedicated my vampire life to."

Elena watches me with growing surprise as I speak. When I finish, she slowly shakes her head in wonder. "Well, what do you plan on doing now?" she asks.

I smirk and pull her forward so I can press my lips to hers in a relatively chaste kiss. When I pull back, I meet her eyes with a grin. "I plan on doing whatever the hell I have to in order to convince you to be _mine_ for eternity," I reply. Her jaw drops at that bold statement. "I promise you, Elena, you _will_ be mine and I _will_ convince you to let me turn you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it _will_ inevitably happen. That _is_ a promise. And I'll have you know, I have _never_ broken a promise I've made in my life."

An hour later

It took Elena a good five minutes to recover from her shock over my promise to her. Then we shared a thoroughly dirty shower before quickly getting dressed and getting out of the room. I checked out as quickly as possible and drove us straight for the westbound interstate. Now we're cruising along with the wind in our hair as Elena had convinced me to put the roof down. I have my left hand on the wheel while my right hand is holding her left hand. We're singing along to the songs on the radio. And I can tell that this road trip is going to be great.

The next big town we come to, we're going to have to stop and buy some stuff to make up for the lack of packing we had done before the trip. Elena is wearing the jeans she had been wearing the night of her crash, two days ago, as well as the underwear she had also been wearing then. I had loaned her one of the spare shirts I keep in the trunk of my car. I'm wearing a whole new outfit. I normally keep a couple of spare outfits in the trunk of my car, just in case. But I certainly don't have enough changes to last however long this road trip will last. And Elena has _nothing_ to change into. Not to mention we need proper bathing products and a number of other items. So, yeah, next big town, we gotta stop and do some shopping.

But I'm quite sure this is going to be a great road trip with much fun to come. At least, it will be after Elena makes the inevitable call to Jenna to let her know what is _really_ going on. And I have a funny feeling I'm going to have to spill the beans about the strong possibility that Elena was adopted. Stefan would know for sure, but Elena would probably go ballistic on him all over again next time they cross paths. But other than those two things, things are beginning to look _damn_ good for a change.


	3. The Decision

When Things Change  
DG32173

Sarah: sorry about how short last chapter was but I really wanted the shopping to take place in its own chapter. So, here's chapter three. But first, review replies!

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_PattyFleur87:_ you keep giving me such awesome compliments! Here's the next chapter!

_jairem:_ in response for your review of chapter 1, yeah, view of his life indeed: the girl he loves naked and sexually entangled with his just as naked brother! Probably a scene right out of one of his nightmares! In response for your review of chapter 2, I haven't seen that many episodes of Season 5, so I wouldn't know how to respond to that. But, I can agree in that Elena should have called Stefan on his bullshit at least half a dozen times each of the first four seasons. And yeah, he is _definitely_ possessive of her already.

_JMHUW:_ I don't mind long reviews. I actually enjoy reading the in-depth view of the reviewer's thoughts that the long reviews reveal to me. And yes, I'm also sad that Elena didn't get to finish her rant. But as you said, that just saves more for later. And in the meantime, she will be stewing over what more she will say to him on the subject in the back of her mind. As for the vision of charts and graphs you have, well, I might very well have her draw some up over the course of her road trip with Damon. And you're right, if Stefan had been more aware of Elena as a _person_ rather than just her face, he _would_ have known that there had to be hidden depths to her personality that he had yet to uncover. Not that he'll ever be given another chance to do so after how royally he had bungled his relationship with her. And even in the early episodes of Season 1, Damon has _always_ been as honest with Elena as the situation allowed for. He _always_ respected her enough as a person to give her as much of the truth as he could at the time. And that pattern will keep up throughout the fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 3  
The Decision

Elena raises an eyebrow at me when I pull into the parking lot of a large shopping mall and find a parking space. "I didn't think you were the type who'd be satisfied with shopping at a _mall,"_ she tells me as we climb out.

I lock up and meet her at the back of my car. I wrap an arm around her shoulders and guide her inside. "Well, I _highly_ doubt you'd let me show you the kinds of places I _normally_ shop at," I reply, winking at her. "So I figured the next best place would be a mall. _Plenty_ of options to choose from, after all."

She chuckles as we step through the electric doors into the air-conditioned 'hall' between Kay Jewelers and a shoe store. I tug her towards the jewelry store. While I'd _love_ to give her my mother's jewelry as protection against vampires, I think it's a bit early in our relationship for such an intimate gift. She frowns at me. "Damon, what are you…?" she starts.

"You obviously left the necklace my brother gave you behind in your rush to escape him. I figured I'd replace it with something _much_ nicer," I reply, knowing she'll read around what I _am_ saying to see what I mean.

"Oh, right," she says, nodding her understanding.

"Besides, I have a much finer eye for jewelry than he does, apparently," I tease. "I can't believe he gave you such a gaudy piece of junk. If I hadn't been there for his birth, I'd say he had been adopted. I can't believe I'm related to him."

"Well, the necklace _did_ stand out," she concedes.

"Stand out?" I demand. "It did _more_ than 'stand out'! It was gaudy and hideous! And it _has_ to be older than even _I_ am!"

Elena laughs at that inside joke. "Okay, I'll let you buy me something new to replace it," she replies when she finally gets control of her giggles.

"Excellent decision, my dear," I tell her, tugging her into the jewelry store. We spend the next hour closely examining every necklace and bracelet in the store. I wave aside Elena's protests when she sees just how expensive some of the pieces I contemplate are. "I have _plenty_ of money, Elena," I assure her. "Allow me to treat you the way you _should_ be treated." I finally wear down her protests and she soon starts looking at even the more expensive pieces with a critical eye to detail. We finally agree on an extravagant heart-shaped twenty karat gold locket with a heart-shaped sapphire embedded in the front surrounded by pink diamond studs, though it takes a good deal of wheedling on my part to get her to accept the nearly $1,500 accessory. When I choose to buy her the matching charm bracelet that costs nearly $750, Elena nearly goes through the ceiling over how much I'm willing to spend on her. I just chuckle and tell her that this is just the start and she had better get used to it. She groans at that. The woman behind the counter gives her a sympathetic smile. When the woman goes to put the jewelry in cases, I stop her and say I'd prefer that my girl wear her new jewelry out of the store. Elena gives me a dark look but can't very well refute my request with so many people in the store. I take the jewelry from the woman and carefully fasten the locket around my girl's neck. When I fasten Elena's new charm bracelet around her left wrist, I use it as a cover to pass her the small bag of sprigs of dried vervaine I carry with me. She looks at me in shock and mouths 'now?' I nod and she sighs before pulling out the tiniest sprig of vervaine and raising her hand up to her locket. In a move that those around us mistake as her simply fingering the locket, she unclasps the locket and slips the tiny sprig into it before clasping it shut again. She presses the baggie back into my hand and I quickly tuck it back into the hidden inner pocket of my jacket where it belongs.

As soon as we step out of the store, Elena stops in her tracks. I look at her in confusion. "You know the jingle, don't you?" she teases, glancing up at the store sign.

I follow her gaze. It takes a second for it to hit me: _'Every kiss begins with Kay'._ Just as soon as I look back at her, she leans up to press her lips to mine briefly before pulling away. I chuckle and wrap my arm around her shoulders as she wraps hers around my waist. "I do know the jingle," I admit, guiding her over to the map of the mall. "I just didn't realize you'd actually follow through with it."

Once we arrive at the map, we study it intensely. "Let's start on the top floor," Elena suggests. "Work our way back down here. There are stairs just over there," she adds, pointing in the direction of the spiral staircase to our right.

"Where should we start?" I ask her.

"Let's hit every store," she says cheekily. "Just to see what they have."

"Even the toy store?" I ask dubiously.

"Aw, c'mon, Damon," she begs. "Don't you know that toy stores in malls usually have a good selection of the toys out on display where the kids can play with them?"

"We're not kids," I remind her.

"Who cares?" she retorts. "You've obviously never been in a toy store! It's about time to remedy that!"

I sigh, knowing that she's not going to back down from this no matter what I do or say. I resign myself to the fact that she's going to make me look like an idiot in a toy store. I let her drag me up the stairs all the way to the third floor. Thankfully, the toy store is on the first floor. Our first stop is a Barnes & Nobles bookstore, which I'm not at all averse to. Despite the popular notion that Stefan is the only Salvatore brother who buries his nose in a book, I happen to enjoy reading.

Elena and I soon discover that our tastes in books just so happen to overlap on just about every genre. When we finally make it to the checkout, I start to realize just how much this girl is going to cost me. The buggy she had grabbed is piled nearly to overflowing with the books we both agreed on as well as a few journals and packages of pens to make up for the fact that her journal is still in its hiding spot in her room. Not that I can't afford such expenses. My usual shopping trips for clothes will probably still cost more than what we will pay throughout this mall trip. Unfortunately, like any guy who is stuck shopping with his girl, I have to carry all the bags. But, unlike those other guys, I can handle it easily. Elena's sheer enthusiasm is quite contagious and I quickly find myself wearing a grin. Our next stop is a shoe store. Elena browses through the selection of boots, searching for just the right pair in just her size. She chooses a pair of black leather boots with one-inch heels that rise to just an inch below her knees and goes to one of the seats to try them on. Once they are on her feet, she twists this way and that, scrutinizing them before practicing walking in them.

Finally, she turns to me. "What do you think?" she asks, striking a pose.

I study the boots, knowing my vampire eyes will be able to do so much more than her human ones. Finally, I smirk. "I like them," I tell her.

"I'll get them, then," she tells me, taking her seat to slide out of them. Rather than slip her sneakers on again, she puts the boots in their box and sets the box on the seat. "Stay here. I'm gonna go look around and see what else I can find," she tells me. I roll my eyes but acquiesce. It's not like anyone would grab her in such a crowded mall. She'd put up too much of a fuss and draw too much unwanted attention if someone tried it.

**Elena**

As I walk away from Damon to investigate the aisle of shoes dedicated to strappy heels, I smile to myself. I have never been on a shopping trip where my budget was only limited by what I want. That was exactly what Damon told me: "Whatever you want, I'll get it for you." I briefly wonder if Damon's ever taken a girl shopping before and quickly decide that it's highly doubtful that he has or he wouldn't have been so quick to say that. It's a good thing for him I have to keep in mind that we _will_ need to fit everything we buy in his car and still be able to get in ourselves as well as allow him to see out the back window. And it's a good thing for him he has such a small car.

I shake myself out of my thoughts and start examining the strappy heels with the practiced eye only a woman on a shopping trip can have. I finally grab two shoeboxes in my size and take them back to where I had left Damon. He arches an eyebrow at the boxes in my hand. I just smile at him and sit down on the seat he was saving for me. I pull out the first pair of heels, two inch black leather spike heels with straps crisscrossing up my calf to buckle just below my knee.

"Those could put an eye out," Damon remarks dryly.

I chuckle. "I think the original purpose of this kind of heel was a means of defense against an attacker," I tell him, pushing my jeans legs up so I can slide these shoes on and buckle them, which I do. I shove my jeans legs down over the straps and stand up. I walk a few paces back and forth, testing the _feel_ of the shoes, which are open-toed and are more skin than strap on my feet. I finally decide that I like them and return to my seat to take them off so I can try on the more modest pair of half-inch heeled strappy black sandals. I decide I like these, too. "Okay, I've got what I want from this store," I tell Damon, putting the heels back in their boxes and slipping back into my trusty sneakers.

"Then let's take your new shoes to the cashier and move on," he replies with a grin.

I pick up the two boxes of strappy heels I had just tried on as well as the box of boots I also want and follow him to the cashier. He takes out the black debit card and swipes it through the Eftpos machine before typing in his PIN. He doesn't try to hide it from me and I'm amused to see that his PIN is Stefan's birthday. But then I remember that their mother had died giving birth to Stefan so it could be honoring either of them, or maybe even both. I decide it's best not to comment.

Damon then accepts the large bag holding all three shoeboxes from the lady. He makes an extravagant gesture for me to lead the way. I laugh and lead him out of the shoe store and into the next store, which happens to be a Coach outlet. Coach is a famous maker of leather goods, and not just coats and shoes. Purses, wallets, baby bags, silk ribbons, key rings, and a wide variety of other goodies. When we walk out thirty minutes later, I have a brand new black snakeskin purse with a strap that loops over my shoulder and hangs on the opposite side, so I don't have to keep a hand free to hold it. Tucked inside it is a crocodile leather wallet. Damon's also carrying a bag containing a new leather jacket for each of us. I've got my hair tied up with a new black-and-white silk ribbon that has the Coach trademark "C" repeated in the pattern.

Suddenly, Damon's keen vampire eyes spot something ahead of us just as I'm about to turn into Hot Topic. He taps me on the shoulder. I look at him in confusion. "You go on in. I just spotted some shopping carts up there," he tells me. I frown. I don't want him to leave me. "I won't even be gone a minute," he promises.

I sigh and nod before making my way into the store. I'm browsing through some fascinating caps when I sense someone stop next to me. My body tenses and that alone tells me that it's _not_ Damon. Close proximity to Damon _always_ makes me relax. I turn to find a guy studying me in a way that sends a chill down my spine. "Hey there, beautiful," he greets.

"I'm taken," I tell him shortly and go to turn back to looking at the hats. Unfortunately, the hat rack is in a back corner of the store, hidden by high shelves containing a variety of other stuff.

He grabs my arm and turns me back to him. "You're here all alone," he points out.

"He's coming back and will be here any second," I tell him coolly. "I suggest you let go of me and leave me alone if you value your life. He's _very_ territorial when it comes to me."

"I think I'll take my chances," the guy says cockily.

"Bad move," Damon snarls, grabbing the guy's wrist so tightly that the hand that's holding _my_ wrist spasms just long enough for me to slip free. Damon turns the guy towards him, grabs him by the throat, and forces him to meet his eyes. "When a lady says she's taken, she's _obviously_ not interested," he hisses. _"Most_ guys would simply have security called on you for harassing their girl. _I'm_ not most guys and you chose to harass what's _mine."_

"What are you going to do to me?" the guy manages to gasp out with what little air Damon's permitting him. "You can't _kill_ me. There are too many people!"

Damon slowly lets the face of the vampire hiding inside of him flow out. "None of these _humans_ can take _me,"_ he snarls. The guy gasps and starts scrabbling at Damon's hand. Damon smirks and morphs his face back to that of a man. "Besides, no one thinks to put the blame of a death on the people who _found_ the body."

I suck in a sharp breath as Damon reaches his free hand around the back of guy's neck. I avert my gaze as Damon's fingers settle on either side of the guy's spine. A _crack_ signals that Damon did it. Knowing that he has killed many people in his life is one thing. Standing only a couple of steps from him as he snaps someone's neck is quite another.

"Now, Elena, go tell the clerk that you and I found a guy who is unresponsive back here," Damon instructs softly.

He doesn't have to tell me to act shaky over it. I'm already trembling like a leaf from being so close as he ruthlessly murdered someone. I dart toward the front of the store. The attendant who's walking around the store helping people takes immediate notice of me. "Miss, what's wrong?" he asks.

"M-my boyfriend and I … we f-found a guy on the floor back b-by the h-hats," I tell him, my voice shaking from the emotional turmoil I'm experiencing. "H-he's not responding!"

The guy pales and follows me to where Damon's putting on a damn good act of being worried about the guy. "I didn't want to touch him in case something had happened to cause him to collapse," Damon says, his voice convincingly full of worry. If I hadn't been right there as he snapped the guy's neck, even _I_ would think he was concerned.

The store attendant kneels down and picks up the guy's wrist to check for a pulse. Upon finding none, he immediately pulls out his walkie-talkie. "Security! Code Black in Hot Topic!" he says into it, his voice shaking. He looks at us as he rises to his feet. "I need you two to stay here and give your statement when Security gets here," he tells us.

"What's wrong with him?" I ask, playing the role Damon had set for me.

"He's dead," the attendant replies tersely before quickly getting the aide of the other attendant roaming the floor in getting the growing crowd to stand back.

Thankfully, there aren't that many ways to come at this particular corner of the store. When the security guards finally push through the crowd, the attendant I had fetched is pulled aside for a moment. During his conversation, he briefly motions to Damon and me.

One of the guards, a tall, burly black man, makes his way to us. Two guards carrying a stretcher go to the body while the rest take over setting up a perimeter. The burly guard stops in front of us. "I am Daren Peters. I'm in charge of security in this mall," he tells us. "I'm told you two were the ones who found the body?" he makes it more of a question than a statement.

By now, I've reached the stage of shock where I can't do anything for myself, much less speak. Damon gently wraps an arm around my shoulder. "Yes sir," he says. "My girlfriend's going into shock, so I'll answer any questions you have."

"How did you find the body?" the guard asks.

"I wanted to grab a shopping cart to put our purchases from other stores in," Damon starts, motioning to the cart next to us. "I told Elena to go ahead into the store while I got it. By the time I caught up with her, she had made it down to that aisle there," he says, pointing at the aisle to the right of the one that comes from the front directly to this corner. "When we turned the corner, we saw the man just lying there. We didn't know what had happened to him. I sent Elena to get help for him. I tried to rouse him with my voice, but he didn't even budge. Then Elena returned with the attendant and he checked for a pulse, which was when we found out he was dead."

Suddenly, one of the guards who was examining the body comes over and whispers something in our guard's ear. Our guard scowls at whatever the other guard is saying. Then the other guard goes back to the body. Damon would know _exactly_ what was said, with his superior vampire hearing. But I'm guessing that the guard who was inspecting the body just told our guard about the broken neck. "Well, this complicates matters," our guard sighs.

"What does, sir?" Damon asks, as if he didn't know.

"It appears that our body belongs to Jack Harris, a serial rapist with an outstanding warrant for arrest in Maine. And he didn't just happen to fall and die on his own. Someone snapped his neck, severing his spinal cord," the guard tells us.

Damon grimaces and I feel all the color drain from my face. Let the guard think our reactions are over the fact that the guy was murdered. We're more concerned over just how close I came to being another one of the guy's victims. I cling tightly to Damon, my trembling renewed with a vengeance.

"And while I do say the guy had it coming, I still must uphold the law and do my best to help the police find his murderer," the guard tells us. "Unfortunately, the likelihood of succeeding is next to nil."

"And why is that?" Damon asks.

"The way Harris chose his victims was by cornering a woman in a part of a store that is a complete blind spot on the security cameras. And this very corner is just such a spot because of these shelving units around us," the guard explains. "So, unless our killer was careless enough to leave some trace of DNA on our dead rapist," which Damon would never allow himself to do, "we might never know who killed him."

Damon and I exchange looks equally filled with fright and relief. Fright over just how close I came to becoming a rape victim and relief that Damon had arrived in time to put an end to the sadist's life before that happened. "Is there anything else you need us for?" Damon asks. "I think my girlfriend would like to find a place to sit down."

"Just give me your names so I can file them in my report and then you can go. Your poor girl looks about ready to faint," the guard replies.

Damon gives him our names, using one of the numerous aliases he's concocted for just such a situation as this one. Then we grab our shopping cart and quickly leave the store. Damon shepherds me past the next series of stores to the food court on this floor. He ushers me into Starbucks and helps me ease down into a corner booth with my back to the crowd while he sits across from me so that he can keep an eye on both me and everyone else in the coffee shop. He then signals one of the waitresses. I'm still trapped in a state of shock where I can barely keep up with what's going on around me. I keep my eyes fixed on Damon. I can't let him out of my sight. Not now. Not after that close call with that rapist. When a waitress finally comes to take our order, I see her frown from the corner of my eye.

"You haven't heard what happened in Hot Topic, have you?" Damon asks softly. The waitress shakes her head, obviously confused. "We stumbled across a dead guy." She gasps. "As you can understand, my girl's in shock over the ordeal. I'm hoping coffee will help settle her nerves."

"Of course," the waitress agrees. "Do you know what you'd like to order?"

"Venti Salted Caramel Mocha for both of us, and keep them coming, please," he replies.

"I'll be right back with your order," she replies, moving quickly away.

"Elena, talk to me," Damon says softly.

I open my mouth but only a sob escapes as tears start running down my cheeks. Damon quickly moves over to my side of the table, gently scooting me further into the booth before sliding in next to me. He pulls me against him, and I bury my face into his jacket and let the tears run freely, trying to keep my sobs as quiet as possible. Damon holds me close and murmurs soft reassurances into my hair that he's here, that he won't let anything happen to me, that he'll always protect me.

The waitress returns with our coffee and leaves them on the table in front of us, not making a single comment about our new seating arrangement, not saying a word actually. I can feel Damon moving occasionally as he takes sips of his own coffee as he comforts me. When my sobs finally cease and my tears start to slow, Damon presses my coffee cup to my lips. I drink deeply from the now lukewarm beverage. "That's my girl," he says softly. I have no idea how many cups he's already drunk but the cup in front of him is full again and his normally cool skin is now almost as warm as a human's. "Talk to me, Elena," he says softly. "It's not healthy to repress this."

"He was going to … and I was … and if it weren't for you," I babble, verging on hysteria all over again.

"Shh, shh, it's over now," Damon assures me, holding me close with one arm and gently stroking my cheek with his other hand. "He's been dealt with. No one will ever suffer at his hands again. Now, drink some more coffee and relax." He holds the cup to my lips again and I obediently drink the rest of the coffee. Damon sets my empty cup on the table and picks up his own cup. "I've dunk enough, but you're going to need more sugar and caffeine to settle your nerves," he tells me. "Careful, this batch is hot. Blow on it first." I obediently blow on the coffee before taking a cautious sip. He returns the cup to the table. "Now, Elena, you can't think about the 'what if' scenarios. Dwelling on how something would have turned out if this or that had happened differently would make you end up with just as many brood lines as my brother and for the same damn reason. That's all he does, you know. He lives his life dwelling on what could've been rather than what _is._ You don't want to end up like my brother, do you?" he asks teasingly. I shake my head vehemently. "Good. I don't think I could handle _two_ of him in my life. One is bad enough. Now, in order to _not_ end up like my brother, you need to live in the here-and-now and not worry about the 'what ifs' in life. Remember, I got to you in time. That's all that matters. Anything else is just a 'what if', which ends with you becoming a female version of my brother. Since we've already agreed that that is _not_ going to happen, you need to take a deep breath and let it go. Now, take a deep breath and hold it," he orders. I do so. "When you let it out, I want you to let all those niggling 'what ifs' running about your head leave with that breath. Now breathe out." I obey and forcefully expunge the 'what ifs' that had been wreaking havoc on me from my mind. I immediately feel lighter, freer. "Good girl. Now, let's finish our coffee and contemplate the menu. You must be starving." I'm startled to realize that he's right. Without all those worries tying my stomach up in knots, it's now letting me know that I have not fed it today. I pick up the menu that's on the table and pale at the prices. Damon eyes the images dubiously. "Actually, let's _not_ eat here. Coffee's good, but I'm not paying _that_ much for so little substance," he tells me. I nod in agreement. Damon finishes the coffee and signals the waitress. "I'd like our bill now," he tells her when she arrives.

She nods and goes to fetch it from the cashier. She returns quickly and I'm shocked to see just how many cups of coffee Damon had ingested while he was comforting me. I raise an eyebrow at him. He just grins and shrugs before digging out his wallet so he can get his black debit card. The waitress takes it and heads back to the cashier. A few minutes later she returns with a receipt for Damon to sign. Damon does so then exchanges the signed receipt for his debit card, which he returns to his wallet, which is then returned to its hidden inside pocket of his jacket. Damon then slides out of the booth and proceeds to help me out as well. It's not long before we're seated at one of the tables littering the pavilion in the food court, eating double cheeseburgers from Burger King, both of us having a large order of fries and a large sweet tea to go with our burgers. Damon had taken special care at the counter to take the pickles from my burger and put them on his own. It made me smile to see that he hadn't forgotten our little debacle over the pickles on the burger Bree had made for me.

We're both about halfway through our burgers when Damon sighs. "You still have to call Jenna," he reminds me.

I sigh and put my burger down on its wrapper. I fetch my phone out of my new purse and turn it on. I'm startled to see that I have numerous missed calls and texts. But then, as I think about it, I realize I shouldn't be, considering that my loved ones in Mystic Falls only know that I've been MIA for nearly two days. I grit my teeth and look through my texts first. The first batch is from Bonnie, starting from around the time I found Katherine's picture in Stefan's room.

_Had vision, need 2 talk 2 u about it – B_

_C'mon, girl, where r u? – B_

_Ok, I'm calling if u don't call bak in next 5 mins – B_

"Did Bonnie call at any time the night I crashed?" I ask Damon.

"A call came in, but I didn't check to see who it was nor did I answer it. I figured it was probably Steffie trying to get hold of you to find out where you went," he says.

"Apparently, Bonnie had a vision about the same time I found Katherine's picture lying on Stefan's desk," I tell him.

Damon's eyebrows rise in surprise. "Well, you can't call her right _now,"_ he points out. "It's barely fourth period."

I sigh. "I'll call her later," I tell him. "Whatever this vision was, it was obviously important enough for her to send three texts _and_ call when I didn't reply."

I skim over the rest of the texts from Bonnie, noting her growing concern about my lack of response. Then I check the few texts I got from Caroline, but nothing major pops out at me. I grimace at the long list of texts from Jenna and don't even bother reading them, since I'm about to call her. I sigh and decide to check my voicemail.

"_Elena, where the hell are you?"_ Bonnie's voice demands agitatedly as soon as the first voicemail starts. _"I had this crazy vision about you, Stefan, Damon, and some picture of a girl that _looked_ like you but the picture was labeled Katherine, 1864. We need to talk. Call me as soon as you get this."_

The next voicemail is also Bonnie. It was left during lunch break yesterday. _"Elena, whatever is going on, you can talk to me, you know that, right? I can't say too much right now cause there are so many people around, but I need to know why you aren't in school today. I'll cover for you as much as I can where Jenna's concerned, but don't expect me to lie for you. You know I'm a terrible liar and she'll see right through me. Call me. I still need to talk to you about what I mentioned on the last message."_

I look up at Damon and notice he looks just as worried about Bonnie's messages as I am. I play the next message, which was left by Jenna last night while I was talking Lexi's boyfriend into sparing Damon's life.

"_Look, Elena, you know I don't have very many rules where you and Jeremy are concerned. I don't know what your reason for hanging up on our call was, but, frankly, I don't care. You need to tell me why you felt you had to _lie_ about where you were last night and today. On top of that, I get a call telling me you had skipped school! If you can't give me a damned good reason for all this, you are _grounded_ until the day you graduate high school!"_

I sigh. "Better call Jenna and get it over with," I tell Damon.

"What are you going to tell her?" he asks.

"A _heavily_ watered-down version of the truth," I reply. "And even if she elects to ground me until the day I die, well, you plan on convincing me to make that day _much_ sooner than she expects. So I'm going to milk this road trip for all the fun and excitement I can."

"Before you call her, there's something I should tell you," he says.

I frown when I notice that he had put his guard up. Whatever he's going to tell me, it's big. "What?" I ask.

"You're probably wondering about your connection to Katherine," he replies.

"Yeah," I say slowly.

"I have a theory. Just a theory, mind you, but I can't think of anything that would counter it," he tells me.

"What is this theory?" I ask.

"I think you might be adopted. I'm not sure, but that's the only thing I can come up with to explain how you look so much like Katherine," he tells me.

I feel as if I had just been punched in the gut. Of all the things I had thought he would say, that was _not_ one of them. But as I think about it, I realize that he's right in that it's the only conceivable reason behind my resemblance to Katherine. I take a shaky breath. "I'll ask Jenna," I tell him softly. "She'll know."

I have to concentrate to keep my hands from shaking as I look up Jenna's name on my contacts list and hit send. I put the phone to my ear and listen as it rings once, twice, and then she picks up.

"_Elena, where the hell are you? Why did you lie to me about where you were? I thought we were closer than that!"_ Jenna snaps.

Her anger fuels my own. "Am I adopted, Jenna?" I demand.

She inhales sharply. _"Who told you?"_ she asks.

That's all I need to know it's true. "We weren't sure before now. Why didn't you tell me? 'I thought we were closer than that'," I say, throwing her own words back at her.

"_Elena, I … your parents were planning on telling you when you turned eighteen,"_ she says apologetically. _"I never thought it would fall on me to tell you."_

"You still should have told me," I tell her.

She sighs. _"Where are you? Why did you feel the need to lie to me?"_

"Two nights ago, I was hanging out with Stefan and I stumbled across a photo of his ex. I discovered that I have an uncanny resemblance to her. I felt used and betrayed because he had _lied_ to me about what she looked like," I tell her. "I fled the boarding house and ended up in a crash. Damon was nearby and saved me from it. I fainted in his arms from the overload of stress. Since I didn't have any serious injuries and he had already been planning a road trip, he decided to take me along. This morning, as we were waking up in our motel room, Stefan barged in on us without warning. I have the _need_ to get away from him, so I'm going to be travelling with Damon for a while in hopes of making Stefan realize he screwed up his chance with me."

"_But what about school?"_ Jenna protests.

"It's not like I won't have the rest of my life to finish high school," I tell her. "There are plenty of people way up there in age going to high school these days." Damon snorts at the slight against Stefan. "I need to get away from Stefan before I lose control of my temper and give in to the urge to kill him."

Jenna sighs. _"Well, it's not like I can force you to come back,"_ she concedes. _"Just, be careful, okay?"_

"Damon will keep me safe," I tell her. "Love you, Jenna."

"_I know he will. Love you, too, kid."_

**Damon**

Elena hangs up with her aunt and sighs as she tucks her phone back into her new purse. I catch her hand. "I promise you, I _will_ keep you safe," I tell her.

It had been hell to see her so hysterical over that close call we had suffered when I had taken just a few minutes away from her. If I had been even a minute slower in returning to her … I don't want to contemplate what that bastard would have done to her. I've done many awful things in my decades as a vampire, committed many sins. But I have _never_ resorted to rape. If my intended partner said 'no', I accepted it. I didn't even use my Power to change 'no' to 'yes'. After all, there are billions of people in this world. There was always plenty of people who _would_ say 'yes'.

"I know you will," she says softly.

"I also promise that if I am ever unable to keep you safe, I _will_ make sure that you are alright before extracting vengeance on the one who hurt you," I vow.

She nods. I release her hand and she picks up her burger. The second I chose to make Elena _mine_ for eternity, the drive to protect her had intensified exponentially. Finding that bastard harassing _my_ girl had filled me with more fury than I have _ever_ experienced in my long life. Finding out what he had chosen to do with his life and realizing that he had intended on making Elena his next victim sent fear coursing down my spine. I had mistakenly thought that my mark on her would keep even humans at bay. I had never realized there were those who are so depraved as to ignore the instinct to leave her alone that my mark would instill in them. Now I know I can no longer be concerned solely with any vampires who come across her. There are even humans who can hurt her. I need to be doubly protective of her. Our near miss has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I pick up my burger and return to eating. I'm going to have to feed soon, though. This experience with that rapist has caused my inner vampire to demand blood. And I can't feed from a human to satiate it. I would end up draining them dry. So Elena and I are going to have to find a blood bank when we leave the mall and I'm going to have to rob it.

As soon as we finish with our meal, we throw the trash away and continue to the stores on the other side of the food court from Hot Topic. We have mutually agreed without even consulting each other that the stores we had passed to get to the food court will not be visited. They are just too close to the one where we were awakened to the danger Elena is in even from other humans.

We stop at JCPenny's because we are both in dire need of clothing for this trip. I'm actually quite reluctant to buy my clothes anywhere but a high-end boutique that sells the designer styles I prefer, but I don't have much choice in the matter right now. So JCPenny's it is.

I'm pleasantly surprised at the variety offered by this outlet. I make sure to keep close to Elena, only allowing her privacy in the changing rooms as she tries on the clothes she picks out. Not that I don't know every inch of her beautiful body, which actually _doesn't_ resemble Katherine's as closely as her face does. I had placed a kiss on every inch of her body last night while marking her as mine.

When she comes out of the dressing room with her choices, she smiles at me and lays her selection over the basket of the shopping cart, a signal that she intends to purchase these. I had immediately noticed that she hadn't chosen a single fancy outfit in the lot. I didn't question her choice, figuring she'll wait until we reach that store on the second floor that is known for designer formalwear. Then it's over to the men's section for me to browse through the selection offered. I have no need to try clothes on as I know at a glance what will fit comfortably and what won't. I have a feeling that Elena plans on waiting until we reach the Victoria's Secret on the first floor for underwear. I tend to go commando more often than not, so I don't really need any more boxer-briefs than what's in the trunk of the Camaro.

We pay for our purchases and Elena carefully rearranges the shopping cart to make room for our latest purchases as well as future purchases. Despite Elena's earlier decision that we check out every store in the mall, the close call in Hot Topic weighs heavily on our minds so we merely take a glance from the store front to see if it would be worth our time to enter the store or if we should move on. Many of them we choose to move on from. Though Elena _does_ stop at a Verizon outlet to purchase a new charging cord for her phone as well as a car charger for it. The ones that came with her phone are still in her room in Mystic Falls.

We do check out another shoe store on the second floor, where Elena purchases two pairs of half-inch heeled ballroom shoes at my suggestion, one pair black and the other white. She raises an eyebrow at me when I suggest she buys them, but I merely smirk and she sighs before getting them, knowing I'll explain their purpose when I decide the time is right and not a second sooner. As I had guessed, Elena drags me into the outlet on the second floor that sells designer formalwear. She enlists my help in picking out a handful of outfits for whatever formal occasions we might stumble upon during our travels. I decide to compliment my wardrobe with four new tuxes so that I'm not outstripped by her. But by the looks on the faces of the customers and attendants who see Elena as she steps out of the changing room in each outfit to model for me, I can tell that for once in my life, I just might be cast in the shadows by the young woman who will be on my arm. Even the women are watching her with forlorn expressions as they obviously realize that no matter how hard _they_ try, this beautiful young woman will outshine all of them by simply walking into the room. And this is proven by the fact that the men are all just as wrapped up in the spell Elena's beauty casts over the male gender as I am. If it weren't for the fact that her attention never strays from me, I would have fallen victim to jealousy. But her eyes never stray from me and her shy smiles at the open appreciation on my face send a thrill of pride through me.

When we finally leave the store, Elena has three new white dresses and three new black ones, all of various cuts and styles. As we pass through the food court on the first floor on the way to Victoria's Secret, Elena spots a place called Yobe and points to it. She explains that it's a frozen yogurt shop with an immense variety of flavors as well as an even larger variety of toppings and we pay for the bowl by the weight of the bowl after getting as much frozen yogurt and toppings as we want. I roll my eyes but concede to treat her to frozen yogurt. She obviously loves the place and just as obviously hasn't been to one in a very long time.

When we are finally seated with our deserts, Elena confesses that she hasn't been to a Yobe since before her parents died and that her mom used to take her to the one in Richmond at least once a month. I have to admit, to myself at least, that every other woman I had 'dated' would have most likely put up a fuss about being taken to a frozen yogurt place. And even if they _had_ accepted it, they would have piled their frozen yogurt high with sugary sweet toppings.

Not Elena. _Elena_ had filled her bowl just a quarter of the way with strawberry flavored frozen yogurt and then added sliced bananas and strawberries, tidbits of pineapple, coconut shavings, and her only concession to her sweet tooth was two tiny scoops of M&Ms. Then again, she's by far the most health-conscious of all the women I've been with. She has no idea how many of her early morning jogs I've discreetly followed her on. I can't believe how early she forces herself to get up. Even as a human, I would _never_ have woken up at five in the morning. And she does that after staying up half the night doing homework and studying before writing in her journal. I have no idea how she manages to go all day on less than five hours of sleep a night. Every other woman I've known preferred getting as much sleep as possible when they can get by with it. On top of all that, Elena _never_ wastes food by throwing her meal away only half-eaten. She told me the one time I asked that she knows all-too-well that so much of the world goes to bed at night on empty stomachs and rises each morning with little hope of having much, if anything, to eat. She admitted that she wouldn't be able to live with herself being wasteful with food when there are so many out there who would do _anything_ for even a mouthful of food that they don't have to worry might make them sick.

Suddenly, she looks up from her frozen yogurt to catch me studying her. "What?" she asks, suddenly skittish. That's another thing: she _doesn't_ like it when people pay attention to her. Every other woman I've kept the company of thrived best when all eyes were on her.

"You are unlike any other woman I've known," I admit.

"Oh?" she asks, fingering her new locket self-consciously.

"I assure you, it's _not_ a bad thing by any means," I tell her. I return to eating my frozen yogurt before it melts. Elena sighs, knowing that I had just signaled that I won't say any more on the subject right now. She returns to her own frozen yogurt.

When we finish with our treat, we throw the paper bowls away and move on, making our way to Victoria's Secret with the flow of the crowd. When we reach the store, I repeatedly hold up underwear sets in her size that I know she would never be able to bring herself to wear. And each time, she scowls at me, snatches the set, and stuffs it back on the rack I had gotten it from. In the end, though, I do manage to convince her to buy a few sets of lace-and-silk underwear of various colors. None of them are nearly as immodest as the ones I had teasingly held up, but that only means that she just might wear them for me.

We have already referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend to others and she hadn't told me not to hold my breath over it. So at least I know she's going to give me a chance to take over a significant place in her heart. She knows a good bit about what I was like before I arrived in Mystic Falls and met her, though not in any detail. She even knows what I had done to her best friend during the time I had been using the blonde chatterbox as a distraction. She was witness to my enraged attempt to drain the life from her other best friend in revenge for Emily using the girl as a means to destroy the crystal I had been determined to use to open the tomb.

She knows I have used many people as a means of amusement and food over the course of my vampire life, more than she could possibly guess at. She knows I've killed more people than she even wants to contemplate, for reasons ranging from simple boredom to betrayal. And, despite it all, she is still willing to give me a chance at winning her heart for eternity. She must not be as pure and innocent as my brother had mistakenly assumed, that's for sure. I wonder what secrets she harbors about her own past and what I can do to convince her to share them with me. After all, I have a darker past than she even knows about. None of her secrets about her past could come anywhere _near_ to matching even the mildest of my sins.

Elena clings to my arm and rests her head on my shoulder as I push our shopping cart out of the mall. Neither of us were much in the mood for her to show me the so-called 'joys' of a toy store. We did manage to find a store selling suitcases and other such luggage and had purchased a large variety to pack our purchases into as well as the outfits I keep in the trunk of the Camaro as a matter of course. It takes us nearly half an hour to neatly pack our things into the luggage and arrange said luggage neatly in the trunk of my car.

I glance at the western horizon, which the sun has nearly reached. "You should call Bonnie when we get on the road," I tell Elena.

She nods and I politely escort her to her side of the car. I wait until she's climbed in and started buckling up before shutting her door for her. I then walk at, ugh, human pace around the hood of my car to climb in the driver's seat. Too many real humans around to move at vampire speed. Once in the driver's seat, I buckle up despite the fact that it isn't really necessary for any reason but that the law requires it. I then start the engine and pull out of the mall's parking lot. I immediately make for the interstate.

Elena fetches her new car charger from her purse and opens it so that she can charge her phone while she talks to Little Miss Witch. As soon as her phone is hooked to my car by the charger, she calls her friend. The witch picks up midway through the first ring. _"Elena, where the _hell_ are you?"_ she demands.

Elena grimaces. "I'm on the road with Damon," she says honestly.

The witch groans. _"Why are you 'on the road' with _him?" she asks.

Elena sighs. "I found a picture of Katherine in Stefan's room," she says. "And in doing so, I discovered that he had lied to me about what she looks like. Bonnie, I look like her. And I'm not talking about merely _resembling_ her. I could be mistaken for her _twin!"_

The witch gasps. _"So my vision was real,"_ she breathes. She sighs. _"Am I right in assuming that Stefan had somehow tracked you and Damon down this morning?"_

Elena winces. "Yeah," she replies.

"_I'm not even going to ask. Just, you should know, my vision the other night was actually more like a series of snapshots that were there and gone so fast I only got a vague impression of what was shown to me. It started as a vision of you holding a picture labeled Katherine, 1864. When I consulted Grams yesterday afternoon about my vision, she warned me against telling anyone else everything I saw, including you and Damon. Just know that something's going to happen in the next few months for you two that is going to be a real eye-opener for everyone when you finally come back home. Just, be safe in your travels, okay?"_

Elena and I exchange worried looks. "Damon will take care of me, Bonnie," she tells the witch.

"_I know he will,"_ the witch sighs. _"That's what I'm worried about. Anyways, keep in touch, girl."_

"I will," Elena promises. "Try to break this as gently as possible to Caroline for me, okay? You're better at getting her to accept things like this than I am."

Bonnie groans. _"Leaving the hardest part to me, huh? I'll be lucky if she doesn't chew my head off for not stopping you, as if it's _my_ fault that Stefan betrayed you and Damon rescued you. I'll do what I can. If all else fails, I'll remind her that this means that Matt won't have anyone to focus on except her while you're away and that by the time you get back, he will have finally allowed himself to move on."_

"Thanks, Bonnie. Just do me one big favor, would you?" Elena says.

"_As if getting Caroline to accept this isn't _already_ a big favor,"_ Bonnie sighs. _"What's your favor?"_

"Could you and Grams take care of everyone while I'm gone? I have a feeling that something bad might happen if no one keeps an eye on things," Elena says softly. "I can't trust _Stefan."_

"_We're already keeping our eyes open,"_ Bonnie assures her. _"There isn't much that will be able to get past us."_

"Thanks," Elena says softly. "Well, I'll try to call you tomorrow with an update on what's going on with us. I'll make sure to call at _least_ twice a week to exchange news."

"_You better or I'm going to find some way to track you two down and make you both pay for worrying me,"_ Bonnie warns.

"I know you would," Elena assures her. 'Talk to you later."

"_Later,"_ the witch replies. The girls then hang up.

"You didn't tell her about what happened in Hot Topic," I remind my girl softly.

"She would freak out if she knew," she replies just as softly. "It's done. You protected me. And it will stay between us. Please, Damon. I'm not even going to write it down in my new journal. I just want to forget it ever happened.

I purse my lips. Repressing things, particularly things like this, tends to backfire at the worst possible moments. But I can't push her into talking about it. She'll just shut down on me and lock me out. I sigh in resignation, deciding I'll just have to wait for her to reach a point in time when she's ready to talk about it. "Okay, I won't bring it up again," I promise her, hoping that she'll be ready to talk about it soon. I'm worried she might fall victim to nightmares over it until she does.

Well, one way to keep the nightmares at bay would be to keep her thoughts elsewhere and keep her going until she's too exhausted to dream when she does drop off to sleep. Unfortunately, before I can think too much on that front, my inner vampire reminds me that I haven't fed what _it_ would call properly in several days. A few mouthfuls of Elena's blood and a handful of bourbon Bloody Maries isn't going to cut it. When I made the decision last night to make Elena _mine,_ I promised myself that from that moment forward I would never feed off any human except Elena, and then only with her permission. She had made me drink her blood last night because there weren't any other options available to us at the time. And I'm not going to ask to drink her blood with the kind of hunger I'm suffering right now. The human food today helped keep the Craving at bay but I'm still going to need blood and soon. And there's only one way to do so and stick to the promise I made myself: we have to rob a blood bank.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks softly.

"I'm thinking that you're not going to be very happy with our next stop," I tell her truthfully, flipping on the blinker to signal I want to take the next exit.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Elena, you have to remember, I'm a _vampire,"_ I remind her. "All that human food we had today may have satisfied _your_ hunger. But it will do very little in respects to _mine."_

I glance at her in time to see the surprised look flash over her features. Apparently, she had actually _forgotten_ that I'm not just another human. She sighs and I can hear the resignation in it. "What's our next stop?" she asks hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hunt," I reassure her. She sighs again, this time in relief. "But unless you plan on donating _your_ blood every time I need to feed to satisfy my inner vampire, we're going to have to rob blood banks off and on throughout this road trip. It's something you're going to have to accept. If I don't start feeding regularly, I'm not going to be able to effectively protect you. As it is, I haven't fed _properly_ in nearly three full days. The blood I drained from you as well as what was in my drinks last night at the vampire bar was not an adequate amount to make up for going two full days without blood."

I can almost _hear_ the gears turning in her head. "How much blood _would_ make up for it?" she asks.

I grimace as I take the exit. "Even if you _were_ willing to become my sole source of blood, we're still going to have to rob a blood bank tonight. The amount I need right now is more than I can safely drain from you," I tell her seriously. "If you're actually considering doing that for me, you better think _hard._ It would mean that I'll be feeding off you at _least_ once a day. On most days it would be two or even three times a day. As you now know, I can make the feeding highly pleasurable for you." The heat radiating off of her turns up several notches in intensity as she blushes. "But you can never forget that what would be going on is still more primal than me giving you a pleasurable experience. You can never forget that the blood I would be draining from you is the sustenance I _need_ to continue my existence. If you choose to become my sole source of blood, you will never again be able to deny me when I tell you I need to tap one of your veins. If that's what you're considering on doing, you will have to remember all that. I am _not_ Stefan. I _refuse_ to feed off Bambi or Thumper or any other woodland creatures he may snack on. To be able to effectively protect you from the very real dangers of this world, I will _need_ to be on human blood. So think very hard about the sacrifices you will have to make should you choose to be my only source of blood. And those sacrifices are pretty damn severe, more so than you might think. I will never grow any older. When I became a vampire, I was trapped in a twenty-four-year-old body for eternity. Because of this, I can't stay in any one place too long or people will begin to notice my lack of aging. Before that happens, I will have to move on. And you will have to move on with me if you make this choice. You will never be able to settle down and make a home somewhere. You won't be able to make any close ties because you will be forced to cut them as soon as we leave the town. That's the problem with being a vampire: you can never settle down and you will never have a family of your own. Nor can you make any close ties to any one community because you will just have to cut them cleanly as soon as you move on." I sigh as I pull into the parking lot of a small hospital. I find a parking spot and cut the Camaro's engine. Neither of us get out. "You need to think on all that, Elena. Choosing to stay with me will require a lot more sacrifice than you can even begin to imagine. And if you choose to be my sole source of blood that _will_ be the same as choosing to stay with me. Because if you ever walk away, I will have no choice but to at least continue robbing blood banks so that I don't desiccate into a mummified state. And you better damn well believe that I won't give up on trying to convince you to let me turn you, at which point I won't be able to use you as a source of blood for sustenance. Only the blood of the living will sustain a vampire and keep them from desiccating. And, as much as I wish it weren't so, vampires are referred to as undead for a reason: we are quite literally the walking dead. We have to _die_ to attain our immortal status and we need to feed on the blood of the living to keep from desiccating."

"What happens when a vampire desiccates?" she asks curiously.

I grimace. "When a vampire goes too long without the blood of the living, their body starts the slow process of mummifying around them. As time passes and the vampire continues to forgo blood for whatever reason, the mummification speeds up. In just a couple weeks, the vampire's body will be too mummified to even move. And the mummification continues on and on as blood is withheld. Throughout it, the vampire's awareness and senses remain just as sharp as if they hadn't desiccated. I once met a vampire who had gone through it," I admit, shaking my head slowly as the memories surface. "She said that even after the last drop of borrowed blood in her veins worked its way out of her system, her heart kept beating and her veins kept pulsing as if there was blood in them, but only air flowed through them in an excruciating manner. Not to mention she could _feel_ it as her flesh continued to dry out and harden. The rest of the picture she painted for me was far too gruesome to think about for long. She said that the only reason she had managed to recover from it was because a group of human explorers had decided to open the catacomb she had been sealed within. One of them cut his hand on the flint rock she had spent the last century propped against and a drop of his blood landed on her lower lip. The blood drop rolled into her mouth and gave her just enough strength to move her mummified body in time to capture the injured human. I won't go into detail of what happened to that group of explorers, but I'm sure you have enough of an imagination to get a pretty good idea."

She grimaces. "I just wish my imagination _wasn't_ as good as it is at the moment," she tells me. She sighs and opens her mouth to speak but I shake my head.

"Think on what I said while you help me rob the blood bank of this hospital. When I have what I need to satisfy the Craving for now, then you can tell me your decision," I tell her. "Your choice will be the basis of whether or not I grab some extra for the road. Now, c'mon. Sun's down, which means ER patients are going to start pouring in if this hospital is like the others I've been in. We're probably going to have a few close calls in fetching the blood I need."

Elena sighs and obediently climbs out at the same time I do. I lock my car and meet her at the back of the Camaro. I wrap an arm around her shoulders and lead her inside.

**Elena**

Of everything on my long résumé of crazy things I've done, I think that robbing a blood bank with Damon is probably going to make the top of the list. But I don't voice that thought as Damon guides me into the nearly frigid front lobby of this hospital. I shiver and Damon draws me closer to him. Why do hospitals have to be so damn _cold?_ But, of course, I know the answer to that even as the thought runs through my head: because the cold cuts down on the germs, bacteria, and everything else that the patients bring in with them. The temperature range most people are comfortable with is also the perfect temperature range for the breeding and incubation of all those germs, bacteria, and other things.

I pay close attention to Damon as he shows me how to rob a blood bank. Not that I _want_ the knowledge, but Damon's made it perfectly clear he intends to whittle away at me reservations until I agree to let him turn me into a vampire. And considering the era his human years had taken place in, I'm positive that he's a damn good whittler. So fighting it is pretty much a lost cause. But I'll fight as long as I can. I don't want to be trapped in a body that looks like Katherine's for eternity. Maybe when I'm twenty-one, when I no longer look like a half-grown girl, I'll let him turn me. But not now, not when I look so much like Katherine that her enemies would mistake me for her were I a vampire.

Damon guides me up to the front desk of the hospital and clears his throat. The redheaded receptionist raises her eyes from her computer. "Can I help you?" she asks, sounding _extremely_ bored.

I watch in fascination as Damon uses his Power to capture her eyes and mind before he speaks. "I'd like to know where your blood supply is kept," he tells her, putting compulsion behind his words.

"Down the hall to your left, take a right at the end and it's the last door on the left," she says in the monotone that signals the compulsion is working.

"Is it locked?" Damon asks.

"Yes."

"How do I _unlock_ it?"

"A staff member with clearance can unlock it by holding their ID in front of the reader," she replies.

Damon grimaces. Apparently that news has just made what we need to do a lot trickier. "We were never here," he compels the girl.

"You were never here," she repeats dutifully.

While the compulsion is taking root in her subconscious, Damon pulls me down the hall the receptionist had mentioned. "Now what?" I ask.

"Now we have to find someone who has clearance to enter the room where the hospital's blood supply is kept," he replies tersely. "And I'm going to have to 'convince' them to cooperate with us."

I grimace. I don't like the thought of all the compulsions he's going to have to place just so we can get in the blood room. But I also know that we don't have any choice because he _needs_ the blood we will take with us to feed his inner vampire. He had already explained to me that the only other option we have to sate his vampire side is for him to drain someone completely of their blood, killing them in the process. And as much as I don't like the thought of him compelling someone, the thought of him killing someone is even less appealing. I know that it doesn't make much difference to _him_ which option we do, but I feel like I'm stuck with choosing the lesser of two evils.

Maybe an indefinite amount of time in just my company will be enough to bring out even more of the man I know is buried deep inside Damon. I've seen enough to know that there is a good, caring man still in existence in him, buried beneath the vampire that he has embraced. I've known it on an instinctive level since I first met him. My heart has been telling me since the moment I first met his eyes that there is a good soul hidden beneath the bad exterior. And now my head has finally come to agree. It's been proven to me, at least, over the last few months.

He probably doesn't even realize that his humanity has been sneaking out in flashes that I have noticed. He probably doesn't think there's even a shred of humanity left in him. So it's up to me to not only prove to him that he _still_ has some humanity left in him but to also bring it to the surface. 'Alright, Elena, you know what you need to do. But how do you go about doing it?' I think to myself.

To be perfectly honest, my prior attempts to draw the man out of the monster that Damon has allowed himself to become had been feeble at best. But they _have_ had noticeable success, however slight it may be. If I put my whole heart into it, I'm sure I can bring Damon fully in touch with the humanity I know is still a part of him. And having an indefinite amount of time ahead of us where we will only be in the company of each other will surely be more than enough to bring my plan to fruition.

Unfortunately, I happen to be a realist. I can make all the big plans I want in my head, but I know that when they involve other people, I will most likely have to coax their cooperation with such gentle finesse that they will think it was their own idea to cooperate with me without ever realizing I'm pulling the strings. And with someone as intelligent and experienced as _Damon,_ well, let's just say it will be one of the biggest challenges I have ever undertaken.

But the fact that my prior attempts to pry out the humanity lurking beneath the monster had succeeded even slightly for all that I hadn't really been trying must surely mean that deep down, Damon _wants_ to change for the better. He just doesn't know it consciously yet. And that right there is the problem. Damon needs to want to change for the better and _know_ wholeheartedly he wants it. If I can't somehow make him see that having his humanity showing is actually a _good_ thing, then I might as well be pounding my head against a brick wall. It would be just as likely to work with me as Damon would, which is to say, not at all.

I just need to give him a good reason to _want_ to become a better person. And the only way I can think of to do _that_ is by setting an example. I may have spent much of my teenage years attending parties and being the stereotypical teenage cheerleader, but I have never let what those around me were doing influence me to do things that went against the set of morals my parents had drilled into Jeremy and me. And the one time I _did_ do something that went against my moral code, the results not only affected _me,_ but my entire family. For going against my promise to be in attendance on family game night on May 23rd of this year had resulted in my parents' deaths. As I woke up in the hospital room and overheard the nurse and doctor arguing over whether or not to tell me the grim news, I vowed to myself I would never again do something that went against my moral code.

And as I'm walking next to Damon as he searches for someone who has security clearance to enter the blood room, I realize that in making that vow, I hadn't stopped to realize that not all choices that life can throw at me are a clear-cut black or white. Take this passive role I'm in while Damon uses compulsion to find out whether someone has been given the dubious privilege of being allowed to enter the blood room. This entire scenario and the choice I had to make that began it is literally only viewable in shades of grey.

Damon needs to drink blood regularly so he is strong enough to protect us both from whatever life chooses to throw our way. In my opinion, that's quite alright, because he's doing it for good. But when one starts turning their thoughts on the only available methods for him to _get_ that blood, well, the situation turns into various shades of grey. He could rob a blood bank, like we are about to do so now. Normally, stealing would be an entirely black option. But we have the conundrum where that black option leads to a white solution. So it turns from black to some shade of grey. Another option he could choose from in the scenario we're stuck in right now, is find someone – hopefully someone deserving such a fate – and drain them dry, which would kill them. Killing someone is very much a black option by most people's standards. But, again, the conundrum where a black option, murder, leads to a white solution, protecting the two of us. So, that option also becomes a different shade of grey. And I have to be honest with myself at least; the only option that doesn't conflict with my moral code is the one where he feeds me his blood first before draining _me_ to the point of death. I will be able to come back to him. Unfortunately, _that_ option is only a one-time deal and then we would need to come up with enough blood to keep _two_ vampires going rather than just one.

I sigh and Damon glances at me. We're alone in the hall at the moment. "What's up, kitten?" he asks softly.

"I'm coming to realize that life will rarely ever be as simple as choosing between black and white options," I murmur.

Damon chuckles. "I realized that even before I was turned," he admits.

"You said you shared Katherine with your brother," I acknowledge.

"No, I'm talking about even before I met her," he replies. "Apparently my brother failed to mention that I was a civil war veteran. I turned twenty-one the year it broke out and was drafted almost immediately." He grimaces as the memories flood his mind.

"Oh," I gasp. He doesn't need to elaborate. I've heard enough war stories from other veterans to know that once one lays eyes on the battlegrounds of a war, one has to grow up fast or die young. Until now, I had never paid much attention to them because they were always told by veterans who had lost too much to the wars they had fought in to allow _anyone_ to make war seem glorious.

Damon sighs. "I was kept moving with the army for three long years, only having the occasional bundle of letters from Stefan to briefly brighten up my life. When I was finally allowed to go home, I stopped by my tent long enough to pack up everything I could remotely call mine and then found my horse and was gone as fast as he could gallop. I had decided that three years spent fighting for a side I didn't want to win the war was three years of wasted time," he says. "I wasn't going to go back for any reason." His lips twitch. "Father was furious when he found out I had no intention of going back. And just a few weeks after I finally made it home, Katherine waltzed into my life and set my best friend and me at each other's throats. Stefan and I've been butting heads ever since." I jerk my head towards him in surprise. He chuckles at my reaction. "I know, right? Looking at us now, no one would ever believe he and I had once been the closest of friends as well as brothers." He does the eye thing that tends to turn my knees to Jell-o. "These days, half the time we fight, I'm just amusing myself with how he gets riled up over the least little thing. I've walked this planet for nearly a hundred-and-seventy years, Elena," he points out. "There isn't a lot in this world I haven't at least tried once." I open my mouth to speak but he holds up his free hand in a motion to keep quiet. I close my mouth, knowing that his superior senses have detected someone approaching us, though the hallway is completely clear.

Suddenly a young woman wearing the white coat of a lab technician turns the corner a few steps away from us. She immediately frowns when she sees us. "What are you doing here? This area of the hospital is restricted for staff members only," she says, a clear warning in her voice as she pushes the thick plastic frames of her glasses back up her nose with one finger.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Damon says in his most pleasant tone. "I'm afraid we got turned around at some point and are now completely lost. Do you mind showing us the way to the front desk?"

The woman sighs her frustration. By the charts she's carrying in one hand, she was on her way to deliver the results of a series of tests done on a patient to that patient's doctor. She glances at the charts in a way that makes it perfectly obvious she's trying to figure out just how important those results are compared to getting a couple of people out of a restricted area. She then makes the mistake of looking up and meeting first my eyes, then Damon's. And Damon takes the perfect opportunity to put her under his control temporarily for what it is.

"Actually, we need to ask you a question," he says.

"What do you need know?" she asks.

"Do you by chance have clearance to the blood supply room down the hall?" he asks.

"Yes, I do,' she replies.

"Perfect. Tell me, will it be possible for us to get back out without your further assistance?" he asks.

"Yes. The door only locks itself on the side that gives off to the hall," the technician replies.

"Good. Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to let my girlfriend and me into the blood supply room. Once you do so, you will immediately forget that we were ever here and will go about your business. Understood?" Damon inquires.

"Yes," she replies.

"Good, now lead the way," he says.

The poor lab technician proceeds to lead us back to the blood room. She holds her badge up to the reader and the door swings open slightly. Damon drags me inside and shuts the door. I'm surprised that what we had thought was a solid, reflective metal door _actually_ has a one-way window in it.

"Well, what do you know? They are actually giving us a way to watch for anyone who will catch us in here without being seen ourselves," Damon chuckles. "Elena, you're on lookout duty."

I nod and immediately focus all my attention on the view out the window, looking first one way, then the other. Damon wouldn't put me on lookout duty just to keep me out of trouble. Okay, maybe he _would,_ but the tone he had used when he gave me the job signaled that this isn't such a time.

Time seems to slow to a crawl as I keep alert for the faintest sign of _anyone_ heading this way. Not that I will see them in time to do more than alert Damon that we might have company. I hear him muttering to himself under his breath, too soft for me to make out more than the faint hum of his voice. I shove both his voice and the other noises that he makes from my mind. I don't even dare glance at my watch. It feels like it's taking him _hours_ to get the blood bags he needs, but it's really only my fear of being caught that makes the passing minutes feel that way.

"Decision time, Elena," he says softly so as not to startle me.

It takes a second for me to remember what decision he's talking about. I firm up my spine. "Get only what you need right now and let's get out of here," I whisper, knowing he'll hear me.

He sucks in a sharp breath. "If you make that choice, you can never change your mind," he points out softly. "'No' can always be changed to 'yes' at a later date. But if you say 'yes' now, you can never take it back. So are you _completely_ sure you're willing to do this?"

I don't even hesitate. "I've never been surer of something in my life."

"Fine. But you better remember that I gave you a chance to back out of this. You've submitted to this for the rest of your human life," he tells me. I hear the sound of a zipper and in the next instance Damon is next to me. I glance at him and notice that hanging over his shoulder is the smallest duffel bag I have ever seen that can still be called one. I bite my lip to keep from crying out when he suddenly scoops me up in his arms. I glare at him for startling me like that though I obediently wrap my arms around his neck for support. He balances me in one arm just long enough that he can slip out the door and back into the hall. Then he balances me in both his arms again before taking off at vamp speed to get us out of the hospital before we get caught with a bunch of stolen blood bags.

We're back at the Camaro in a matter of seconds. Damon sets me on my feet and holds me long enough for me to find my balance. Being carried by Damon as he vamps around is similar to being on an extreme rollercoaster. I nod when I finally get my equilibrium back. He lets go of me then shocks my by swinging the duffel bag full of stolen blood bags off his shoulder and passing it to me. He arches an eyebrow at me when I just stare at it. Finally, I sigh and take the duffel bag from him. He unlocks the Camaro and opens my door for me. I slide into my seat and set the duffel bag on the floor board between my feet so I can buckle up. Damon shuts my door and is climbing in the driver's seat in the next second.

Damon waits until we're back on the interstate before speaking. "Get a blood bag out of duffel bag, pull the valve off, and pass the bag to me," he instructs quietly.

I sigh and do as he says. I happen to glance at the label before I pass it over. "O Positive?" I ask dryly. That's my blood type.

Damon frees one hand from the wheel to accept the blood bag. He takes a swallow by sticking the tube in his mouth and using it like a straw. He then shrugs. "I've always preferred Type O blood. It's sweeter than the other blood types and I happen to have a sweet tooth," he replies. "Or fang, in this case."

I groan at his pun. "Not funny," I tell him.

"You were laughing your ass off last night at my jokes," he points out.

"I was drunk," I remind him.

He flashes a smirk at me. "Well, you know what they say about alcohol," he teases.

I frown, knowing that I'm going to regret responding to that taunt. "What? That it makes you do crazy things?" I ask.

He chuckles. "Close," he concedes.

"Tell me then," I invite.

"It drives away inhibitions," he replies. By the twinkle in his eyes, though, I know that I'm going to regret trying to one-up him. "And you, my dear, lost _quite_ a few inhibitions last night," he adds, glancing at me with such intense bedroom eyes that I simultaneously blush crimson _and_ become thoroughly aroused. His nostrils flare slightly and my embarrassment grows exponentially. Damn vampires and their super senses! "So, keep your eyes on the billboards for a good place to eat," he says. Dammit! He has to thoroughly arouse me and then have the fucking nerve to change the damn subject entirely!

Suddenly, I get a wicked idea that just might be a way to get even. "You decide," I say. "But after dinner, we need to find a gym. You may be 'trapped' as you say in an eternal body, but _I_ am human, which means my body will still react positively or negatively to what I do during the day. And while the shopping trip did require a lot of walking, I haven't had a good full body workout since before we left Mystic Falls."

**Damon**

I grit my teeth as my attempt to torment her sexually starts seeing the domino effect that will lead to having the tables turned on _me_ if I'm not careful. And when she mentions wanting to put in a _full body workout_ at a gym, I realize I just might have met my match in the art of fencing with words, for all that she is more than a century and a half younger than me. My cock twitches in my designer jeans as her words bring up highly sensual images in my head. But I'm not going to let her beat me _that_ easily.

"I'll see what I can do about finding us a gym," I reply, finishing my blood bag. I pass it to her. "There's a large black trash bag in the back floorboard. Put that and the valve in it and pass me another blood bag. I'm still rather hungry."

I catch the smug little smirk tugging at her lips from the corner of my eye. An equally smug smirk spreads across my own lips. 'Let the games begin,' I think wickedly. This road trip keeps looking better by the minute, save for that near-miss with the rapist in Hot Topic.

* * *

Sarah: and there is the _very_ long third chapter of _When Things Change._ It's almost as long as the Decade Dance chapters in _Setting Things Right_ and _The Woman I Love._ Now, reviews would be most appreciated, my darling readers. And you can be sure that I'll reply to you at the beginning of the next chapter! So, go to the little box at the bottom of the page, type in a name you want me to call you or sign in if you have a Fanfiction account, and leave me a few words on your thoughts about the story so far and maybe let me know where you'd like to see this head, okay? It would only take a few seconds at most and I would be overjoyed to read each and every review I get!


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